Jules Maigret
Maigret is a series of detective novels written by writer Georges Simenon, starring the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Film and television adaptations The cinematic potential of Maigret was realized quickly: the first screen Maigret was Pierre Renoir in 1932's Night at the Crossroads, directed by his brother Jean Renoir; the same year brought ''The Yellow Dog'' with Abel Tarride, and Harry Baur played him in 1933's La Tête d'un homme, directed by Julien Duvivier. Charles Laughton played the first English-language Maigret in the 1950 film, The Man on the Eiffel Tower (adapted from the 1931 novel La Tête d'un homme (A Man's Head)). The film co-starred Franchot Tone, Burgess Meredith and Wilfrid Hyde-White. There have been numerous incarnations of Maigret on the small screen all around the world. He has been portrayed by French, British, Irish, Austrian, German, Italian, Dutch, Japanese and Russian actors. In France, Jean Gabin played the part in three films, released in 1957, 1959 and 1963. Another French version starred Jean Richard in more than 80 episodes of a long-running series from 1965 to 1990 on French television — however, Simenon himself is said to have disliked Richard's Maigret because he would not take his hat off when entering a room. Later, Bruno Cremer played the character in 54 adaptations during 1991–2005. The Italian actor Gino Cervi played the character on Italian television, starting from 1964 up to 1972; Simenon himself considered Cervi's interpretation of the character to be possibly the best. This series resulted in 14 novels and 2 short stories being adapted: Maigret and the Spinster, To Any Lengths, Maigret's Christmas, A Battle of Nerves, Death of a Nobody, Death of a Harbour Master, The Old Lady of Bayeux, "Madame Maigret's Admirer", Maigret's Pipe, The Headless Corpse, "Maigret and the Surly Inspector", The Lock at Charenton, Maigret on the Defensive, Madman of Bergerac, Maigret and the Loner, and Maigret in Retirement. In the Soviet Union Russian theater actor Boris Tenin portrayed Maigret in a number of TV films in the 1970s. In Soviet cinema, apart from Boris Tenin, Maigret was portrayed by cinema actors Vladimir Samoylov and Armen Dzigarkhanyan. In Japan, Kinya Aikawa played Megure, a Japanese-born equivalent to the French Maigret, reinvented in a modern Japanese setting, in Tōkyō Megure Keishi,Tôkyo Megure Keishi Japanese wiki page (Japanese) a 25-episode TV Series aired from 14 April to 29 May 1978 on Asahi TV. Megure's wife was played by Etsuko Ichihara, who earned the praises of Simenon himself: "The best 'Madame Maigret' in my opinion, even including the French ones, was the 'Madame Maigret' on Japanese television. She was exactly right".[http://www.trussel.com/maig/gauteure.htm A picture of Kinya Aikawa as Maigret/Megure, and Simenon's quote from La Revue du Cinéma n° 454, November, 1989. Article retrieved on Trussel.com] The title role in the British Maigret TV series was played by the actor Rupert Davies who made his debut on 31 October 1960. Davies took over the part after Basil Sydney, who appeared as Maigret in the original transmitted pilot, proved unavailable due to ill-health. Davies went on to star in 52 adaptations for BBC TV in the 1960s. His portrayal won two of the highest accolades: his versions were dubbed into French and played across the Channel; and Simenon himself presented Davies with a novel inscribed to his "perfect Maigret". The theme tune to the TV series was composed by Ron Grainer. Granada Television produced an adaptation of Maigret for ITV in 1992 and 1993, in which Michael Gambon starred as Maigret. An earlier version (1988) on ITV cast Richard Harris in the lead role, with a somewhat idiosyncratic reading of the character. Rowan Atkinson plays Maigret in Maigret for two TV-films made by ITV. The first episode is based on Maigret Sets a Trap; the second, based on Maigret's Dead Man, is forthcoming later in 2016. Radio adaptations in Delfzijl. The unveiling was made by Simenon himself on 3 September 1966, at the place where he had written the first Maigret novel, and was attended by Maigret actors from various countries.The Maigret Statue at Delfzijl]] ]] Maurice Denham played Chief Inspector Maigret in a series of half-hour dramatizations of the novels on BBC Radio 4 from 1992 to 2002, with Michael Gough playing Georges Simenon. The format of each play would begin with Maigret and Simenon sitting together discussing some fact or event which would then lead into Maigret's recounting a particular case, with Simenon asking questions or commenting from time to time. After Denham's death, the series was continued in 2003 with Nicholas Le Prevost playing a gruffer, more earthy Maigret and Julian Barnes playing Simenon. Other appearances Inspector Juzo Megure from Detective Conan is loosely based on Maigret, in both appearance and name. Both are police inspectors, and are known for wearing hats and overcoats. The rendering in the Japanese syllabary for Megure and Maigret is the same (me-gu-re; in other words, the names are pronounced the same in Japanese). Maigret himself was also highlighted in volume 5 of the Detective Conan manga's edition of "Gosho Aoyama's Mystery Library", a section of the graphic novels where the author introduces a different detective (or occasionally, a villain) from mystery literature, television, or other media. The character of Detective Marcel Guillame appears as a visiting investigator on the fourth season episode "Monsieur Murdoch" of "Murdoch Mysteries". List of novels List of Maigret novels by date of French-language publication. List of short stories List of Maigret short stories by date of publication. References External links * Simenon's Maigret (bibliography, statistics, online texts, links) * Category:Georges Simenon Category:BBC Television programmes Category:BBC Radio programmes Category:ITV television programmes Category:Belgian novels adapted into films Category:Belgian novels adapted into plays Category:Novels adapted into radio programs Category:Novels adapted into television programs